S.S. PRINCESS CHARLOTTE
112.
MADE IN CANADA BY THE GOWEN. BUTTON CO. LTD. VANCOUVER. B.C.
POSTCARD
CORRESPONDENCE - ADDRESS

PRINCESS CHARLOTTE
1908
Built: Fairfield Co. Ltd., Glasgow, Scotland
Length: 330' Beam: 47' Depth: 24' Tonnage: 3926

On December 30 the splendid three stacker Princess Charlotte steamed into Victoria harbor, 58 days out from Glasgow, where she was built by the Fairfield works. Designed to run with the fast Princess Victoria on the Seattle Victoria Vancouver “triangle” run. The Princess Charlotte is one of the most elaborately furnished vessels that ever entered Victoria harbor. The entrance to the passenger accommodations is through watertight doors on the ship's side on the shelter deck forward, leading to a spacious entrance hall, which is tastefully paneled in teak, the floor being laid with terra cotta and white rubber tiles. At the fore end of the entrance is situated the barber shop, baggage room, purser's office, and at the extreme fore end of the vessel is a large smoking and sitting room for second class passengers, with a stairway leading to lavatory and sleeping accommodations on the main and orlop decks. Aft of the main entrance is a large central hall, fitted up with lounge seats upholstered in crimson plush. At the after end of this hall is the main staircase, which leads to the passenger accommodations and public rooms on the promenade deck. On either side of the shelter deck there is accommodation for 176 first class passengers in two and three berth rooms, fitted up in the latest style. On either side of the forward central hall are twelve large special three berth rooms rifted up in first class manner, with electric radiators, sofa beds, wash stands, etc., and there are four rooms rifted up as bridal chambers. This unusual number has given the Princess Charlotte the title of the “honeymoon boat”. At the after end of the shelter deck is a central hall similar to the forward one, also a handsome ladies' tea room. On the promenade deck there are two spacious halls in a large deck house, with a well in the center of each, which gives ample light to the central hall below. On either side there are accommodations for 104 first class passengers in two berth rooms, finished in similar manner to the staterooms on the shelter deck. Entrance to the dining salon on the main deck aft is by a stairway from the central hall or shelter deck. The salon extends from ship's side to ship's side and is capable of seating 133 persons. The steamer's twin screws were driven by inverted direct acting four cylinder triple expansion engines. She was a coal burner, and remained so for the next 30 years. Her service speed was 18 knots, her dimensions 330' x 47' x 24'. In day service she was certified to carry 1,200 passengers. Gordon Newell, Maritime Events of 1908, H.W. McCurdy Marine History of the Pacific Northwest.

FINAL DISPOSITION
Three well known steamships of the Canadian Pacific B. C.Coastal Service, Princess Charlotte, Princess Adelaide and Princess Alice, were sold to Typaldos Bros. Steamship Company of Piraeus, Greece. The Charlotte, extensively reconstructed and with a single funnel replacing her original three, was operated as the cruise steamer Mediterranean between Turkey, Greece and Italy. Either her transformation at the Greek shipyard or the enthusiasm of Greek press agent increased her tonnage from 4,000 to 12,000 and her speed from 18 to 22 knots, for so she was described in the literature of her new owners. Gordon Newell, Maritime events of 1949, H.W. McCurdy Marine History of the Pacific Northwest. Seattle: Superior Publishing Company, 1966., p. 562. The Mediterranean, ex-Princess Charlotte was scrapped in 1965.